Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders’ under-fire middle order finally delivered as Venkatesh Iyer silenced his critics with a 25-ball fifty while Angkrish Raghuvanshi struck a fluent half-century to power KKR to 200/6 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Kolkata Thursday.
KKR’s new-look opening pair continued to struggle, with Quinton de Kock (1) and Sunil Narine (7) falling cheaply after SRH opted to bowl.
But an 81-run partnership by skipper Ajinkya Rahane (38 from 27 balls) and Raghuvanshi (50 off 32 balls; 5×4, 2×6) laid the foundation for a competitive total.
SRH gained ground in the middle overs when 26-year-old Sri Lankan Kamindu Mendis delivered a rare sight in IPL history, bowling with both hands in the same over on debut.
The ambidextrous Sri Lankan first bowled left-arm spin to Raghuvanshi before switching to off-spin against the left-handed Rinku Singh.
The over proved pivotal as he dismissed Raghuvanshi, breaking KKR’s momentum.
Momentum slowed with boundaries drying up for two overs, but Iyer (60 off 29 balls; 7×4, 3×6) and Rinku (32 not out from 17 balls; 4×4, 1×6) reignited the innings.
Iyer’s desperate pull off a Simarjeet beamer ended the drought, and Rinku smashed three consecutive boundaries off Harshal Patel before Iyer tore into Simarjeet with back-to-back fours.
Rinku capped off the over with a massive six over long-on, yielding 17 runs.
Iyer was at his belligerent best against Cummins in the 19th over, hammering the SRH skipper for 4, 6, 4, 4 in succession as KKR notched their first 200-plus total of the season. The hosts hammered 78 runs in the last five overs.
Earlier, Pat Cummins struck early in the third over, setting up de Kock with a short ball that was miscued to deep midwicket, while Shami dismissed an out-of-sorts Narine with a wide yorker that took the edge behind.
From 16/2 in 2.3 overs, KKR recovered through an 81-run stand between Rahane and Raghuvanshi.
Rahane broke the shackles with two crisp pull shots for sixes off Shami and Cummins, as KKR reached 53/2.
Raghuvanshi complemented Rahane with stylish stroke play, piercing gaps with drives through cover and square region.
His standout strokes came against Zeeshan Ansari — a clean lofted six over long-off and a well-placed reverse hit past backward point. He reached a well-deserved 50 off 30 balls.
However, Ansari broke the partnership in the same over as Rahane gloved a reverse sweep to Heinrich Klaasen.
Captain Cummins’ decision to underutilise spin on a pitch with variable bounce was debatable.
Leg-spinner Ansari bowled just three overs (1/25), while Mendis wasn’t given another over after his match-turning spell.
PTI
